Highways and roads in far northern and southern parts of the world often become hazardous to drive upon in the winter. Local governments often place salt, sand, or other substances on the road surfaces to help melt the snow and ice and to increase the traction provided by the road surface. The result, sometimes, is a messy slush that is thrown onto the headlamps of vehicles traveling upon such roads. Even a thin layer of slush on the headlights significantly decreases the apparent candle power of the lamp. If the slush is allowed to build up, the reduction in illumination becomes unacceptable, and the driver must stop and wipe off the headlights. The temperature and other weather conditions at such times makes the headlight cleaning chore somewhat unpleasant. Moreover, since the lights must be cleaned alongside a road at a time when visibility conditions are poor, the person performing the cleaning operation is at risk. The very need to pull off the salted or sanded roadway itself creates difficulties in returning to the roadway from a slippery location, and danger to the person entering or exiting a vehicle.
Some automakers provide retractable headlights so that the lens of the headlights can remain clean when slushy roads are being traveled over during daylight hours.
Mercedes Benz provides a headlamp equipped with a reciprocating wiper much like the ubiquitous windshield wiper; U.S. Pat. No. 4,507,711 discloses that structure. Another wiper structure for a window is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,196,081 to Carence. U.S. Pat. No. 3,758,912 to Shiboya, et. al., shows a device for cleaning bowling balls that have become soiled with oil applied to the bowling alley, dirt from the bowler's hands, and the like. Other U.S. Pat. Nos. of interest include 4,038,286 and 2,948, 912 which disclose wipers for mirror lenses and U.S. Pat. No. 1,455,773 which shows a device for cleaning a lamp.
Thus, it is clear that the prior art neither teaches nor suggests how the problem of headlight slush removal could be solved in an optimal manner.